Deck Strategies
Kilo, Apogee Mind
Focus on proliferating various counters, especially charge counters, on artifacts to quickly grow them into formidable threats and leverage abilities that scale with counters.
Inspirit, Flagship Vessel
Accumulate charge counters on the flagship artifact by tapping creatures to station it, unlocking powerful abilities that protect artifacts and spread counters, eventually converting it into a flying threat.
Szarel, Genesis Shepherd
Build an engine around lands in the graveyard and on the battlefield, sacrificing non-token permanents to distribute +1/+1 counters and recur key cards to overwhelm opponents with growing creatures.
Hearthhull, the Worldseed
Manipulate the top of the library and sacrifice lands to generate value and amass a large, resilient board state that can outpace opponents in the mid to late game.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Using Steel Overseer early to rapidly increase artifact counters set up a strong foundation for artifact-based strategies.
- 2
Stationing the Spirit Flagship Vessel to add charge counters each turn was critical to unlocking its powerful protective and buffing abilities.
- 3
Sacrificing non-token permanents with Szarel to distribute +1/+1 counters allowed for explosive growth of creatures and synergy with land recursion.
- 4
Playing multiple land drops and generating creature tokens with Rampaging Veiloths helped maintain board presence while fueling other land-based synergies.
- 5
Proliferate effects from Surge Conductor and Core Tapper effectively accelerated the charge counter buildup on key artifacts.
- 6
Delaying early aggression in favor of developing counter engines and board state ensured more impactful turns and stronger threats later.
Notable Cards
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Steel Overseer
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Surge Conductor
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Exploration Broodship
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Escape to the Wilds
Summary
The game featured four commanders focused on different strategies revolving around counters, lands, and artifact synergies. Early turns involved setting up mana bases with various dual and basic lands, alongside deploying creatures and artifacts that generate or benefit from counters. Kilo, Apogee Mind and Inspirit, Flagship Vessel both centered their gameplay around accumulating charge counters on artifacts, leveraging proliferate effects and abilities that trigger when charge counters reach certain thresholds. Szarel, Genesis Shepherd focused on building a critical mass of lands in the graveyard and on the battlefield to fuel his sacrifice and +1/+1 counter distribution engine, while Hearthhull, the Worldseed worked with land sacrifice and top-deck manipulation to amass a strong board state over time. As the game progressed, the players used synergies between counters and land drops to develop board presence, with key plays including the deployment of Steel Overseer to boost artifact creatures and Surge Conductor to proliferate counters upon artifact entry. The Spirit Flagship Vessel commanders gradually built charge counters to unlock powerful abilities granting hexproof and indestructibility to artifacts and enabling additional counter placement each combat. Meanwhile, Szarel utilized recursion and sacrificial triggers to grow creatures and maintain pressure. The game’s pivotal moments revolved around balancing board development with counter growth, culminating in the players preparing to overwhelm opponents through either massive creatures or indestructible artifact armies empowered by counters and land interactions.
